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More jail time urged for pope's attacker

January 18, 2006|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkey's justice minister asked a court Tuesday to annul the release of the man who shot Pope John Paul II and return him to prison for at least 11 more months for crimes he committed in Turkey.

Mehmet Ali Agca, 48, was released from an Istanbul prison Thursday after serving 19 years in Italy for shooting the pope in May 1981 and 5 1/2 years more in Turkey for murdering a Turkish journalist here in 1979.

Justice Minister Cemil Cicek asked an appeals court to annul the release, arguing that he should serve a full 10-year term for killing journalist Abdi Ipekci and other crimes. His years in a Turkish prison began June 14, 2000.